


(How To) Save A Life

by ShowMeAHero



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Children, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Fights, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, M/M, Minor Violence, Pack, Pack Bonding, Pack Dynamics, Pack Feels, Pack Mother Stiles Stilinski, also in which they are an actual pack, am i the only one who remembers this or what, and danny is not there, and derek runs said pack like a real leader, and the twins are not there, and then a bad time, and then kind of more good time, at some point derek became alpha again, because it's still going to be twenty years, because scott is a hella alpha but hale pack guys, because they killed boyd, before he realizes something is amiss, in which the future comes swiftly, just a good time, just know that this fic is a lot of things I like, okay wait I think I have too many tags now, that's actually a tag and I dig it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-17
Updated: 2014-03-17
Packaged: 2018-01-16 01:27:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1326664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowMeAHero/pseuds/ShowMeAHero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even the best of well-oiled machines get a wrench thrown in the works every now and then.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(How To) Save A Life

“Please, Derek,” Stiles called out, throwing his hands above his head and threading his fingers through his hair. He tugged, hard, relishing in the pull in the roots. “Can you help me out here?”

“Little busy,” Derek called back, somehow still managing to sound gruff when shouting from the next room. Stiles groaned and caught the one-and-a-half-year-old as she attempted to hurtle past him.

“Talia, please,” Stiles pleaded, and Talia halted just long enough to look over her father before she flipped over his shoulder and fell to the ground. She sprinted off again, but skidded to a stop when Derek appeared in the doorway. Stiles looked up at him from where he was sitting cross-legged on the floor and sighed.

“Talia Laura Hale,” Derek said sternly. Talia looked up at him, her neck craning backwards, before she lifted her arms up. Derek sighed and shifted Scotty to one arm so he could lift her before he leaned down and picked her up. Talia stretched over to jab at her four-month-old brother before Derek separated them. Claudia looked up from her blocks and cocked her head at them curiously.

“You’re a lifesaver,” Stiles breathed, falling flat on his back. Talia whined and reached out for him, and Derek let her down again. She hurried over to Stiles and climbed onto his chest, peering into his face. “I take it back.”

“Yeah, well, she’s not running, so I’m counting it as a win,” Derek grumbled. He sat down on the floor next to Stiles and leaned back against the wall. Scotty reached up and tugged at a lock of Derek’s hair happily.

“Why did we do this?” Stiles asked, his voice muffled halfway through the question as Talia lay down on his face. Claudia finally gathered enough curiosity over and investigate her twin sister’s activities. Derek shifted Scotty, sitting him down in his lap. Scotty let his head fall back against Derek’s chest as he watched his sisters.

“Because we’re idiots,” Derek grumbled. Scotty pulled on fistfuls of Derek’s t-shirt.

“When was the pack getting here?” Stiles asked as Talia gripped onto his glasses and Claudia frowned down at him.

“Now,” Derek answered, just as Lydia appeared in the doorway, taking a picture on her phone. Both Stiles and Derek exclaimed at the flash that momentarily stunned and blinded them.

“You look adorable,” Lydia cooed at them from behind her phone. Isaac appeared over her shoulder, grinning into the room. Derek frowned at Lydia.

“They all have your attitude,” Stiles grunted in Lydia’s direction as Talia sat back heavily on Stiles’ chest, bringing his glasses with her.

“Weird, considering Scotty’s the only one I share DNA with, and he seems like an angel to me,” Lydia replied, waving at the little boy sitting in Derek’s lap. Scotty laughed at her, and Lydia smiled.

“That’s just Derek coming through,” Stiles said. “And my influence. Of course.”

“Of course,” Lydia agreed dryly. “But all of them have Hale in them, and it’s the one with the Stilinski in her that you seem to be having difficulty with.”

“To be fair, Claudia is an angel,” Stiles defended as Talia threw herself backwards into his stomach and shoved his glasses onto her face. Scott - the elder - squeezed in between Lydia and Isaac to enter the room. “Talia just… struggles. She’s like I was.”

“Are,” Scott corrected, picking Talia up and pulling the glasses off of her face. He handed them back down to Stiles, who accepted them gratefully. “She’s like you are, present tense.”

“Thanks,” Stiles said, sitting up and rubbing at his chest. Claudia reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to his back. Stiles reached back and hitched her up so she was sitting on his shoulders. “Is everyone else in the living room?”

“It sounds like everyone else is in the hallway,” Derek answered for her, heaving himself to his feet. Scotty laughed again, clapping his hands together. Scott made a dramatically excited face at him, and Scotty clapped his hands.

“Scott’s more of a child than Scotty,” Isaac commented, and Scott turned to scowl at him.

“I resent that,” Scott said, primly, before losing his act and breaking into a puppyish smile. He let Derek trade Talia for Scotty, then turned to Stiles. “Tell me you’re the one who made dinner.”

“That would be me,” Stiles assured him. “I made _polędwiczki wołowe_ , which is why-” Claudia smacked at his neck, and Talia’s head turned towards him, and Stiles laughed. “I forgot, you like that, don’t you? _Moje szczęście_ , of course you do, _moja mała różyczko, lubisz polski, prawda_ -”

“I hate to distract you before you start going on a mad Polish rampage, Stiles, but I did come here for our meeting and to be fed,” Scott interrupted. Stiles laughed. “ _Tú sabes que yo no sé polaco_ , Stiles.”

“ _Entonces aprende,_ ” Stiles said simply, reaching around himself to drag Claudia to his front. She pressed her head into the hollow beneath his neck, clinging to his shoulders with her small hands. “If some of you will help bring it out, we can have our meeting and eat all at the same time.”

The hallway was empty a moment later, leaving only Lydia, Scott, Stiles, Derek, and Kira behind. Isaac waved sheepishly before vanishing. Stiles heaved an exaggeratedly put-upon sigh and followed after them, leading the rest of the pack behind him. Claudia imitated his sigh, and Stiles grinned down at her, adjusting his grip and bowing his head down close to hers.

“ _Mój skarbie, kocham cię, jesteś dla mnie najważniejsza. Nauczę cię jak przygotowywać polędwiczki wołowe, tak jak mnie nauczyła moja mama,_ ” he murmured under his breath, only stopping when Derek rested his free hand on Stiles’ shoulder, jerking him out of his one-sided conversation with an enraptured Claudia.

“Stiles!” Kira called from the kitchen. Stiles settled Claudia on his hip and hurried ahead to the kitchen, where Kira was attempting to balance two dishes at once. Stiles cursed colorfully, passed Claudia to a puzzled-looking Allison, and grabbed one of the dishes from her.

“Everyone, table, now,” Stiles instructed. The pack pulled together all the dishes of food, plates, cups, and soda bottles, carrying them to the dining room table. Kira picked up Haruki when he ran over, sitting him down in one of the chairs beside her. Scott checked on Lupe in her baby carrier in the corner, but she was still fast asleep. Derek took on the truly Herculean task of strapping three children into high chairs. Isaac took his seat beside Allison; Lydia sat on Allison’s other side, and Stiles sat beside Lydia. Once everyone was seated and served, Stiles motioned for Derek to begin.

“What we’re dealing with here is a rugaru- or, rather, a whole bunch of them,” Derek explained. Lydia nodded as she delicately cut up her serving. “Based on the research Stiles has been doing when he can, the only way we can kill them is to light them on fire.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Isaac commented, pushing his sleeves up to his elbows.

“As long as we work together on this, it should be easy enough,” Stiles agreed. “I was thinking 22 Duke should probably be good. If not, Motion Ice Tiger would be good, too, if we can get Allison in there with a flamethrower or something. Flaming arrows. Like Legolas.”

“I’m not Legolas,” Allison sighed, though she was clearly trying not to laugh.

“You’re exactly like Legolas,” Stiles argued before continuing. “We can practice them after dinner, see how they look for this type of thing.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Isaac agreed. Scott nodded his concurrence, his mouth full. Kira looked up from Haruki at Stiles.

“Who’s staying home this time?” she asked, and Stiles looked to Derek.

“You know I don’t like you coming to these,” Derek murmured, and Isaac and Scott both immediately began pretending they could hear nothing. Lydia politely turned her head away and began chatting to Allison. “You’re human, and these things feed on human flesh.”

“I’ve been researching how to take them down,” Stiles argued quietly. “I know how to handle myself, I can’t just-”

“But someone has to stay here,” Derek interrupted. Stiles gave him a look before continuing.

“I can’t just not go to takedowns like these just because something _might_ happen.” Stiles straightened up, squaring his shoulders subconsciously. “Something might happen every time, Derek.”

“That’s not great incentive for me,” Derek pointed out. Stiles rolled his eyes and gave Talia a bite of potato when she grabbed at his wrist.

“I can stay behind this time,” Lydia offered, giving up any pretense she had of not eavesdropping. “Watch the kids. I haven’t been able to do much research on rugarus, so Stiles would probably be more help, anyways.”

“You-”

“Lydia knows the drill,” Stiles assured Derek before Derek could properly pick up steam. “This won’t be too hard.”

Derek hesitated, clearly thinking it over in his mind quickly before he sighed.

“Fine,” Derek acquiesced. He cut off a piece of his dinner and shoved it in his mouth. Scotty exclaimed a nonsense word at him and reached up.

After a few beats of silence, Stiles spoke up again. “I don’t really think there’s much going on besides that. We need to deal with that rugaru as soon as possible. Once we go through the maneuvers and see which is best, we should probably go deal with that.” Stiles paused, then smiled. “I got _Jurassic Park_ for after, and _The Lion King_.”

“Awesome!” Kira blurted out, accidentally knocking over a salt shaker. Scott laughed.

Stiles leaned closer to Lydia. “I had to move the first aid kits, they’re under the second floor bathroom sink now. Bring them down for me, please, while we’re gone.”

“Okay,” Lydia agreed softly. When Stiles straightened up again, Derek was watching him, but Stiles just shook his head and resumed eating.

Dinner was relatively peaceful, and Stiles guided them through several of their various practiced maneuvers before he officially decided on 22 Duke. He kissed Talia on the forehead, then hugged Lydia.

“We’ll be back soon,” Stiles assured her, looking over his shoulder at where Kira was saying something softly to two-year-old Haruki and Derek was murmuring to a wide-eyed Claudia. He turned back to Lydia. “Be ready.”

“I will be,” Lydia promised. Stiles kissed her cheek and followed Derek out the door. The pack left after them, the door shutting behind Isaac. Lydia sat down on the floor, let Talia down, and waited.

She did not have to wait too long. By the time the children had worn themselves down enough for her to put them to bed, the front door banged open. She pulled the blankets up over Talia and Claudia and shut their door as softly as she could before hurrying down the stairs in her bare feet. She froze on the third step from the bottom, her knuckles going white as her grip on the railing tightened.

“Jesus,” Lydia breathed as Isaac limped in behind Scott, who was carrying a conscious and babbling Kira as best as he could, and Derek, who was carrying an unconscious and silent Stiles bridal-style. Allison hurried in behind him, shutting the door after her. Lydia unfroze, flying to Kira first. “What happened?”

“Rugarus are all dead,” Isaac assured her drily. He fell into the armchair heavily, then tugged the torn shreds of his jeans off, leaving him in his boxers. He examined his leg as it healed from bloody tear marks into skin again. “Those bitches are _strong_. And _fast_ , holy _shit_ -”

“Lydia,” Derek interrupted, and Lydia knew _that_ tone of voice. She gave her attention to Derek, who was carefully laying Stiles down on one of the two sofas in the living room. Scott lay Kira down on the other; Kira immediately attempted to sit up, but Scott forced her back down. “First aid kits.”

Lydia nodded and went to the dining room, dragging the four first aid kids off the table and bringing two of them to Derek, who tore them open and started to work. Lydia looked away, swallowing around the dry lump in her throat. She brought the other two kits to Scott, who opened one with his free hand, his other hand occupied with holding Kira down.

“Stiles and I got the last two,” Kira told Lydia proudly, her voice drowsy. She grinned. “It was _awesome_.”

“I bet it was,” Lydia agreed. Scott let go of Kira and looked up at Lydia silently, pleading, and Lydia moved to keep Kira down. Scott set to work stitching up the gashes on Kira’s thighs and hips. Derek had his hands full patching up Stiles’ chest, neck, and back, but Allison and a fully-healed Isaac had begun to assist him, so Lydia was not overly concerned at the moment. She only looked over when she heard Stiles make a pained noise.

“Stiles, don’t move,” Derek said, the moment Stiles seemed to be aware of his surroundings. Derek placed a hand on Stiles’ uninjured hip, and his veins turned black a second later, Stiles’ pain transferring into his body. Derek grit his teeth and shut his eyes against it before he released Stiles. Stiles exhaled shakily and opened his eyes.

“Dead?” Stiles asked tiredly. Derek nodded, and Stiles shut his eyes again for a moment before forcing them open a second time. “Safe?” Derek nodded again. Stiles took a deep breath, then looked down. “God, what the _hell_ -”

“Calm down,” Derek interrupted, and Stiles closed his eyes. “I’m stitching you up. You’re going to be fine.”

“Okay, good,” Stiles said, trying to keep the strain out of his voice. He laughed without humor and tried to shift, but Isaac kept him still. Stiles went limp on the sofa and opened his eyes, looking around until he found Allison, who he grinned at. Allison gave him a small smile in return. “Gotta be ready for next time.”

“You’re not going next time,” Derek ordered, his hands busy stitching Stiles’ shoulder back together. Stiles rolled his eyes, then winced.

“You say that every time,” Stiles reminded him. Derek sighed, but knew all the same Stiles was, in fact, correct. “Actually, without me, we probably wouldn’t’ve won, so you can take your orders and shove them up your ass, Hale.”

“Guess I can,” Derek agreed. Stiles frowned, then tried to lift one of his hands. Isaac pinned it back down.

“I’m sorry,” Stiles said, and Derek shook his head. “No, I am. I know how- I know you get upset when this happens.”

“Of course I get upset,” Derek mumbled. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Comedy is tragedy plus time?” Stiles suggested. Derek glared at him. Stiles whistled. “Okay, not a time for jokes."

“Of course it’s not a time for fucking jokes, Stiles-”

“Okay, okay,” Stiles interrupted peaceably. “It’s going to be okay.” Stiles paused, then looked over Derek’s shoulder at Lydia. “Kids asleep?”

“Last I checked,” she answered, and Stiles visibly relaxed.

“Good,” he replied. Derek and Scott worked in silence for two minutes before Stiles spoke again. “Can someone put _The Lion King_ on?”

“As long as you don’t move while I’m gone,” Isaac said, and Stiles hummed his agreement. He could not speak for a time as Derek began working on his neck, but his eyes flickered back and forth as he watched the cartoon unfold on the screen. Scott finished working on Kira right before Mufasa died, and Derek finished working on Stiles when Simba returned to the Pridelands, smoothing the edge of the last bandage just as the grey savannah came into view.

“Everyone can crash here,” Stiles informed the room at large tiredly. He moved to stand, but Derek stopped him easily. Stiles let him. “Lydia, are Haruki and Lupe in the room near the girls?”

“They are,” Lydia answered, and Stiles nodded.

“Okay, then, Scott and Kira, you’re in there, and Isaac and Allison, you’re in the room next to them, and Lydia, you’re across the hall from me, next to Scotty’s room, and Derek-”

“I know where I am,” Derek reminded him, and Stiles stopped short before nodding. He flinched when he nodded, a hand coming up to hover above the bandages on his neck.

“I’ll make breakfast in the morning,” Stiles announced, and Scott shook his head at Derek, but neither of them spoke aloud. Stiles waved, murmured goodnights and farewells, and dragged himself up the stairs. He stopped in Talia and Claudia’s room, just to make sure they were asleep, then stopped in Scotty’s room. Scotty, unfortunately, was awake, and Stiles got to him before Derek had the chance.

“Can I pick him up?” Stiles asked softly. Scotty frowned at his father.

“You probably shouldn’t,” Derek murmured, reaching over Stiles to lift Scotty up. Stiles watched carefully as Derek tucked Scotty close to his body, then suddenly slumped, pressed his forehead to Derek and using him for support.

“I’m so sorry,” Stiles said, his voice hushed. Derek nodded, and Stiles shut his eyes tightly. “I’m so sorry, Derek, I’m so sorry-”

“Stiles, stop apologizing,” Derek instructed, and Stiles fell silent. They could hear the footsteps of the pack as they went to their respective rooms. Each door shut before Derek spoke again. “It’s okay.”

“I’m still sorry,” Stiles murmured. Derek looked down at Scotty, who had drifted back asleep, and so Derek put him back in his crib. He took Stiles’ wrist and pulled a bit of his pain out. Stiles’ shoulders relaxed a bit.

“Let’s go to bed,” Derek suggested, and Stiles hummed a bit to show his assent. He allowed Derek to lead him to the bedroom, strip him down, lay him down in bed, and pull the covers up around them. He moved gingerly, hyper-aware of his stitches, but he still wrapped himself around Derek all the same.

“You’re a lifesaver,” Stiles sighed, half-asleep. It was a twisted parody of his same words from earlier, and Derek shut his eyes in the darkness, focusing on the heartbeats around him.

“I’m counting it as a win,” Derek said, for the second time that day. Stiles made a mumbling sound and fell asleep. Derek watched the blackness behind his eyelids until his own heartbeat matched Stiles’, and he, too, fell asleep.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I used Google Translate for the Polish and the Spanish, as I don't speak Polish and I don't speak Spanish well enough for what I wanted to say.
> 
> You can follow me on Twitter at [@nicoIodeon](https://twitter.com/nicoIodeon) or on Tumblr at [andillwriteyouatragedy](http://andillwriteyouatragedy.tumblr.com/).


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